A district judge has sentenced former Omaha child care worker Mark Mays to 26 to 60 years in prison for sexually assaulting eight children, and for possession of child pornography.

"You violated (the) most defenseless in our society," Judge Gary Randall said. "The ones who can’t talk about it and the ones who can’t understand it. I would only hope that maybe they won't remember but we don't know and we won't know."

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Randall also said people sexually assaulted as children are the most broken in our society.

Mays, 25, was sentenced on four counts, two counts of first-degree sexual assault, which can be between 10 and 20 years each; and two counts of visual depiction of sexual assault, which can be three to 10 years each.

Investigators found explicit images of children on Mays' phone following his arrest in February 2016. Five of the images were taken inside Omaha child care centers.

Mays worked at Little Hands at Work and Play near 144 and Blondo streets and La Petite Academy near 108th Street and West Maple Road.

Mays was fired from Little Hands at Work and Play in January 2016.

All of the victims were either two- or three-years-old.

In addition to the photos, investigators found children's diapers and underwear in desk drawers at May's home.

In a court hearing last year, Mays' public defender said his client had an intellectual impairment.